Children have to wait for dental checks

Tim Mackay.
Tim Mackay.
Nearly one in five primary and intermediate school children in Dunedin are up to 10 months behind in their annual dental check-ups as the Southern District Health Board struggles to cope with a lack of dentistry staff.

Oral health clinical director Tim Mackay said the board aimed to provide an annual check-up for children under high school age.

''However, there are some children in Dunedin who are waiting for a check-up for over 12 months, mainly at the Mosgiel and South Dunedin community oral health clinics.''

The DHB could not say how far behind schedule the hubs were with appointments, but did say as of December 2016, the percentage of children overdue for a dental check-up was 19%.

A parent who declined to be named said their child was supposed to be seen at one of the dental hubs in January this year, but no appointment arrived.

He contacted the hub and got an appointment for his child last week.

''They saw us straight away because we called to make an appointment.''

Hub staff told him they were so far behind that some of the children being seen this month were supposed to have been seen in July last year.

''That's 10 months behind.''

Dr Mackay said the board operated community oral health clinics in Mosgiel, the Dental School and Dunedin South; and mobile dental units in Port Chalmers, Portobello, Abbotsford and Wakari.

He said the main reason for the overdue appointments was staffing.

The DHB's workforce of dental therapists was steadily retiring and the competition to attract new graduates and experienced therapists was high, making it difficult to fill dental therapy roles.

''Although the DHB is actively recruiting new graduates, we still have 3.2 full time equivalent vacancies in Otago.''

Dr Mackay said a major recruitment campaign for new graduates, held last year, was the most successful the DHB had held for several years, and five new dental therapists had been recruited to the team.

He expected the backlog to drop due to the recruitments, but said it was difficult to know when the backlog would be cleared.

''In addition to the five new dental therapists we have recently recruited, we are working on rostering more staff in clinics with a higher backlog, to help to reduce this.

''Our dental staff are working really hard to see the overdue patients and are doing a fantastic job,'' he said.

School dental clinics across New Zealand were closed in 2009 and replaced with dental hubs and mobile clinics under the Ministry of Health's Good Oral Health, For Life, For All strategy.

The change was made partly because many school dental clinics were old and decrepit and many schools were unhappy about maintaining them.

However, Green Island School principal Steve Hayward, who was Otago Primary Principals' Association chairman at the time, said he and the association opposed the closures.

''There are no surprises here at all. It was predicted when they [the ministry] made their case for taking away all the school dental clinics.

''We were very sceptical about the changes they proposed at the time.

''We used to lead the world in oral dental healthcare for our children.

''And now we must be way down the list because dental problems will be on the increase.''

Mr Hayward said he was not convinced the DHB would fix the backlog.

''This system was supposed to streamline things.

''His [Dr Mackay's] words don't fill me with confidence. This should never have happened in the first place.''

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

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